TATLC Chapter 01 – Transmigrated to a Farmer’s Family

“This guy looks sick. Will he be alright?”

“That Chen Xiaomi probably doesn’t care what he looks like, as long as he’s still breathing.”

“In his condition, he can’t work and just eats for free. Let’s send him over quickly.” If he died, the silver would be wasted.

“Who would’ve thought this brat, who’s usually so quiet, would actually have the guts to kill himself? We spent a whole tael of silver calling a doctor for him.”

“He’s such a jinx. Let’s get him out of here quickly.” It would be troublesome if he died in their home.

…

Lu Lin lay in bed, listening to the original Lu Lin’s First Aunt¹ and Little Aunt² talking outside. He could only smile bitterly.

That’s right, the Lu Lin lying in bed looked the same as before, but inside, he had become a completely different person.

In his previous life, Lu Lin was just an ordinary college student in China. After struggling in the city, he quit his job and returned to his hometown to take over his parents’ small convenience store.

Then, during a thunderstorm, both Lu Lin and his convenience store were struck by lightning and transported to ancient times.

Not long after transmigrating, Lu Lin discovered a mole on his hand that connected him to the convenience store.

Time seemed to stand still in the space where the store existed, so he didn’t need to worry about the items inside spoiling.

Lu Lin knew time was frozen in the store because, when no one was around, he noticed the instant noodles he had left on the counter before transmigrating were still hot.

Ancient farmers had limited acceptance for supernatural occurrences. Afraid that he might be burned at the stake, Lu Lin kept the existence of the convenience store to himself.

After transmigrating, Lu Lin also received the original owner’s memories and learned about this unfamiliar dynasty, similar to ancient China.

In this era, besides men and women, there existed a third gender called Shuang’er. They resembled men but had a flower-shaped mark on their foreheads and were generally shorter than men.

Shuang’er could also bear children, but with more difficulty than women.

The original Lu Lin’s fate had been tragic. His grandparents had three sons and one daughter. His father was the second son and least favored. Years ago, when military conscription came, the family had sent his father.

The family was actually quite well-off. They could even afford to send Lu Lin’s cousin to study. In this world, only wealthy families could send their children to study.

His grandparents could have paid for an exemption from military service, but unwilling to spend the silver, they had persuaded Lu Lin’s father to go to war instead.

Being a filial son, his father had been convinced and left behind his wife and son to follow the recruiters.

After his father left, only Lu Lin and his mother remained. Since his father wasn’t favored, his mother was treated even worse.

His mother came from a humble family. With no one to stand up for her, she always worked silently without complaint, never receiving any appreciation or much food.

The family owned quite a bit of farmland, which had been mainly tended by Lu Lin’s father, mother, and himself. After his father left, the burden of fieldwork fell entirely on Lu Lin and his mother, causing her health to deteriorate day by day.

After her husband left, Lu Lin’s mother had always hoped that he would return in glory. Unfortunately, fellow villagers brought news of his death in battle.

Already worn down by labor, his mother was devastated by the news. Feeling hopeless about the future, she fell into deep depression and eventually passed away.

After his mother’s death, villagers began to gossip about how the grandparents mistreated the second branch of the family. Lu Lin’s grandmother was no easy woman. She shifted the blame directly onto Lu Lin, claiming he had brought misfortune to his parents.

In this society where filial piety governed all, once rumors spread that Lu Lin had caused his parents’ deaths, villagers began looking at him differently. To ancient people, bringing misfortune to one’s parents was a serious offense. After the rumor spread, no one spoke up for him.

Lu Lin had always been gloomy by nature, and after being labeled as “relative killer”, he became even more withdrawn.

At eighteen, Lu Lin had already passed the ideal age for marriage in this dynasty. As the main laborer in the family, no one cared about his marriage prospects. They only wanted to keep him working at home.

This year, however, things began to change. Due to years of continuous warfare, the population had significantly declined.

A new regulation was issued: unmarried men and Shuang’er over eighteen had to pay three taels of silver as a head tax, while unmarried women over seventeen would either be assigned spouses by official matchmakers or pay the same tax.

When this regulation was announced, the family was thrown into chaos. Three taels was not a small sum, and Lu Lin’s stingy grandmother was unwilling to spend money on a grandson she disliked.

Moreover, there weren’t many people in the family to work the fields. After his parents died, the farm work had been neglected.

The grandparents thought it over and decided to find Lu Lin a wife to help with the farm work.

Unfortunately, Lu Lin’s reputation for bringing misfortune had spread far and wide. Although the Lu family was reasonably well-off with a son studying to become a scholar, everyone knew Lu Lin was not favored. Any girl who married into the family would surely suffer, so no one was willing.

Seeing that Lu Lin couldn’t find a wife, his grandparents didn’t reflect on their past behavior but instead blamed him for being useless that he could not attract even a simple girl.

It was then that news spread about Chen Xiaomi looking for a husband.

Chen Xiaomi was also a notorious figure in Dashi³ Village. Although he was a Shuang’er, he possessed extraordinary strength.

Chen Xiaomi’s position in the Chen family was similar to Lu Lin’s in the Lu family, and his circumstances were much the same.

Chen Xiaomi was the child of the Chen family’s third son. While the Chen family’s circumstances were slightly worse than the Lu family’s, they were still considered wealthy in the village.

A few years back, when the village’s fields had a poor harvest, many villagers risked hunting in the mountains for food. Although it was dangerous, hunting sometimes brought great rewards.

Several years ago, some villagers had dragged a black bear from the mountains and sold it to a wealthy family in town, earning twenty taels of silver. This caused much envy among the villagers.

Seeing this profit, Chen Xiaomi’s grandmother urged her third son, Chen Shouren, to try his luck in the mountains. Chen Shouren was reluctant because he knew many hunters never returned from the mountains.

Hunting was usually a last resort for farmers who lacked land and were on the brink of starvation. The tigers in the mountains were fierce and dangerous.

Chen Shouren’s wife was about to give birth, and he didn’t want to take risks. However, his mother threw tantrums, accused him of being unfilial, and kept pressuring him to go hunting.

With no choice, Chen Shouren went to the mountains. Unfortunately, that group encountered a wolf pack. Of the four who went, only one managed to escape.

When Chen Xiaomi’s mother heard the news, her condition deteriorated. She gave premature birth to another Shuang’er named Chen Xiaomai.

The Chen family’s grandmother showed no remorse for her son’s death. Instead, she blamed Chen Xiaomi’s mother for her misfortune, believing she had brought bad luck to her son and had given birth to another money-losing burden.

Two years ago, Chen Xiaomi’s mother passed away.

Only three children remained in the third branch of the Chen family. Chen Xiaomi’s First Uncle set his sights on Chen Xiaomi’s younger brother, Chen Xiaocai. Chen Laoda⁴ considered Chen Xiaocai a freeloader and wanted to sell him as a servant to a wealthy household to supplement the family income.

In this era, servants held very low status. Once someone signed a deed of sale, their master could beat or kill them as they pleased.

Grandma Chen thought this was a good idea. A growing boy eats his parents out of house and home, and Chen Xiaocai was young and couldn’t do much work, making him a thorn in the old woman’s eyes.

When Chen Xiaomi heard this news, he kidnapped Chen Laoda’s son and threatened the family that he would castrate Chen Jing if Chen Xiaocai was sold.

As the saying goes, the youngest son and eldest grandson were the old lady’s pride and joy. While she didn’t care much for Chen Xiaomi and his siblings, she valued her eldest grandson the most.

Hearing Chen Xiaomi’s threat, she thought he had gone completely crazy.

But those with nothing to lose fear nothing.⁵ Chen Xiaomi felt he had no future anyway and became reckless. He beat up several people who tried to capture him, even drawing blood.

Chen Xiaomi had always restrained himself despite believing that his grandmother had driven his father to death. But when he learned his uncle planned to sell his brother, he finally exploded.

After asking around, Chen Xiaomi discovered that the young master of the family that was planning to buy Chen Xiaocai had violent tendencies and had already tortured two servant girls to death. They found girls to be useless, so the family now wanted to buy a boy to torture.

Thinking about his uncle’s heartlessness and his grandmother’s complicity, and remembering that his father wouldn’t have died if not for his grandmother’s relentless pressure and accusations of being unfilial, rage overwhelmed him and he wanted to strangle her.

Grandma Chen could control her obedient sons but not a madman like Chen Xiaomi, and she was terrified.

After that incident, Chen Xiaomi coerced his grandfather into separating him and his two brothers from the Chen family to establish their own household.

Seeing that keeping this troublemaker was impossible, the grandfather had no choice but to agree.

In these times, many elders showed favoritism, and most mistreated children would only complain privately about such unfairness. Those who confronted their elders directly were rare, making Chen Xiaomi a notorious example among the village elders.